Solyndrahttp://www.businessinsider.com/category/solyndra
en-usTue, 03 Mar 2015 18:44:14 -0500Tue, 03 Mar 2015 18:44:14 -0500The latest news on Solyndra from Business Insiderhttp://static3.businessinsider.com/assets/images/bilogo-250x36-wide-rev.pngBusiness Insiderhttp://www.businessinsider.com
http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-green-program-turning-a-profit-2014-11Republicans Branded This Obama Program A 'Colossal Failure' — And Now It's Turning A Profithttp://www.businessinsider.com/obama-green-program-turning-a-profit-2014-11
Thu, 13 Nov 2014 11:03:00 -0500Finbarr Bermingham
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5464d62d69bedde9508e6047-1200-924/barack-obama-thumbs-up-7.jpg" border="0" alt="Barack Obama thumbs up"></p><p></p>
<p data-iceapw="22"><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">A US government renewable energy programme described by Republicans as "disgusting" and "a colossal failure" has turned a profit for the first time.</span></p>
<p data-iceapw="35">The Loans Program Office became a stick to beat President Barack Obama with during the&nbsp;<span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD12">campaigning</span> for the 2012 election, after the solar energy company Solyndra defaulted on a $535 million loan it received from the Department of Energy.</p>
<p data-iceapw="19">It was followed into&nbsp;<span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD8">bankruptcy</span>&nbsp;by the startups Fisker Automotive and Abound Solar, all of which received&nbsp;loans&nbsp;from the office.</p>
<p data-iceapw="20">Now, it has reported a profit of $30 million, after collecting interest payments of $810 million on total&nbsp;loans&nbsp;of $34.2 billion,&nbsp;<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-controversial-u-energy-loan-program-wiped-losses-050212629--finance.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Reuters&nbsp;reports</a>.</p>
<p data-iceapw="52">The lending programme was borne out of 2005's&nbsp;Energy&nbsp;Policy Act and was designed to stimulate the US' fledgling renewable&nbsp;energy&nbsp;sector. The intention was never to make money but to subsidize an industry that has always struggled to gain commercial&nbsp;<span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD1">financing</span>. An initial $10 billion was set aside to cover those losses.</p>
<p data-iceapw="48">"Part of this shortfall [in&nbsp;financing] can be attributed to the recent domestic financial crisis and global<span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD9">economic</span>&nbsp;downturn. But much of it is due to the unique features of large-scale&nbsp;energy&nbsp;projects, which make traditional&nbsp;financing&nbsp;difficult to find—even in flush&nbsp;economic&nbsp;times," reads the initiative's website.</p>
<p data-iceapw="58">The programme allows renewable&nbsp;energy&nbsp;firms to&nbsp;<span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD11">borrow</span>&nbsp;from the Treasury or private sector, with the&nbsp;<a href="http://energy.gov/lpo/about-us" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Loans Program Office</a>&nbsp;issuing a substantial guarantee on the&nbsp;loan. It's a model that is common in more traditional sectors, with the likes of Boeing and Caterpillar being substantial beneficiaries of the Export-Import&nbsp;<span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD4">Bank</span>&nbsp;of the US, which guarantees&nbsp;loans&nbsp;to exporters to buy US goods.</p>
<p data-iceapw="33">However, during the run-up to the last election, high-profile Republicans rounded on the Obama administration's support for the programme — contending that Obama was using it to assist his campaign funders.</p>
<p data-iceapw="7">Now, though, officials are toasting its success.</p>
<p data-iceapw="34">"Taxpayers are not only benefiting from some of the world's most innovative&nbsp;energy&nbsp;projects ... but these projects are making good on their&nbsp;loan&nbsp;repayments," Peter Davidson, executive director of the Loan&nbsp;<span class="IL_AD" id="IL_AD5">Programs</span>&nbsp;Office, told Reuters.</p>
<p data-iceapw="13">The US&nbsp;Energy&nbsp;Secretary&nbsp;<a href="http://www.npr.org/2014/11/13/363572151/after-solyndra-loss-u-s-energy-loan-program-turning-a-profit" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">told NPR</a>&nbsp;that it "literally kickstarted the whole utility-scale photovoltaic industry."</p>
<p data-iceapw="75"><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/4e7cc98769bedd6f1d000000-590-443/solyndra.9.11.jpg" border="0" alt="solyndra"><span></span>The news may offer some support for Obama as he faces Republican opposition to the climate change deal he agreed with China, upon his return from Beijing. Senate leader Mitch McConnell has suggested that Obama will not be in the White House for long enough to see the plan through and, given the widespread Republican hostility to green initiatives, the implication is that if Democrats fail to win 2016's election, the deal will be stopped.</p>
<p data-iceapw="54">"This unrealistic plan that the president would dump on his successor would ensure higher utility rates and far fewer jobs. As I read the agreement it requires the Chinese to do nothing at all for 16 years while these carbon emissions regulations are creating havoc in my state and around the country," McConnell said.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-green-program-turning-a-profit-2014-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/world-solar-power-goes-parabolic-2012-6Global Solar Consumption Is Going Parabolichttp://www.businessinsider.com/world-solar-power-goes-parabolic-2012-6
Mon, 18 Jun 2012 07:36:00 -0400Gregor MacDonald
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4fdf12066bb3f72e5b000014-400-400/solar-consumption.png" border="0" alt="solar consumption" width="400" height="400" /></p><p>From a very small base, and from a tiny position in world energy supply, the buildout of global solar power is starting to go parabolic. Last year, according to the just released <a href="http://www.bp.com/sectionbodycopy.do?categoryId=7500&amp;contentId=7068481">BP Statistical Review</a> (you must access the Excel workbook for solar data), global solar generation nearly doubled to reach 55.7 TWh (terrawatt hours).</p>
<p>To put this power capacity in context, North America generated almost 100 times as much power in 2011 from all sources (coal, natural gas, hydro, nuclear, wind, solar), to reach 5204.5 TWh. By that measure, solar power capacity on a global basis can barely be detected, and is therefore a kind of joke, right? Uhm no, that would be wrong.</p>
<p>As <a href="http://gregor.us/alternative-energy/returning-to-simplicity/">world nuclear power goes into retreat</a>, because of its enormous expense, catastrophe-risk, and complexity, it is power generated by solar that offers easy time-to-completion benefits and project clarity, especially in the developing world. (Indeed, <a href="http://gregor.us/coal/coal-wins-again-global-energy-use-by-source-from-the-2012-bp-statistical-review/">nuclear power again lost primary energy share last year</a>, according to the BP Statistical Review). Moreover, as the world is no longer able to fund economic growth with oil, owing to flat global supply, the industrial economy continues to migrate towards the electrical grid. While this certainly means that coal fired power generation will dominate for the next decade, it&rsquo;s also the case that a more robust powergrid will become the receptacle for solar power.</p>
<p>While I am not ready to sign on to a <a href="http://www.psfk.com/2011/02/kurzweil-predicts-100-solar-power-in-20-years.html">Singularity&rsquo;s version of solar buildout</a>, the possibility that solar power reaches 10% of global power generation by the end of this decade should give you some idea of the new world made possible by plummeting solar voltaic prices, and, the array of other technological advances in capturing the diffuse energy of the sun. To accomplish this gain in primary energy share, solar will need to advance from last year&rsquo;s 55.7 TWh to approximately 2200 TWh. That probably sounds impossible to most observers, but I would point out that at current growth rates, those levels could be achieved as early as the year 2018.</p>
<p>It is not a mistake that global solar capacity has begun a parabolic move. While many will conclude that demand is the main driver of this growth&mdash;and that is not incorrect&mdash;it is actually the increasing difficulty and complexity of other power generation construction which is now casting off advantages, to solar power. Do not underestimate the speed of solar.</p>
<p><em>&ndash;Gregor</em></p>
<p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/hIdZmkOUrwEMu6tnC8-r67hPEdU/0/da"></a><br /> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/hIdZmkOUrwEMu6tnC8-r67hPEdU/1/da"></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Read more posts on <a href="http://gregor.us/">Gregor.us &raquo;</a></strong></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/world-solar-power-goes-parabolic-2012-6#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/8-botched-ipos-2012-68 Unforgettable IPO Disastershttp://www.businessinsider.com/8-botched-ipos-2012-6
Wed, 06 Jun 2012 14:07:00 -0400Max Nisen
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/4e7b413c69bedd440300005d/pie-fail.jpg" border="0" alt="Pie, fail" /></p><p>An initial public offering, or IPO, often sounds like a great idea for owners of big private companies. It's a quick way to raise capital, value the company, and cash our if you're a shareholder.</p>
<p>But not all IPOs go smoothly.&nbsp; Many get planned, but never happen.</p>
<p>In the aftermath of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/exclusive-heres-the-inside-story-of-what-happened-on-the-facebook-ipo-2012-5">Facebook debacle</a>, we've decided to take a look at some other IPO disasters.</p>
<p>Whether its a poor market environment, a bad business model, tech glitches, or overblown expectations, everything that can go wrong while taking a company public has.&nbsp;</p><h3>BATS</h3>
<img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4fbf70c2eab8eac224000004-400-300/bats.jpg" alt="" />
<p><p><strong>Key dates:&nbsp;</strong>March 23rd, 2012 (Attempted IPO date)</p>
<p><strong>IPO Size:&nbsp;</strong><a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/4ad610c6-7442-11e1-9951-00144feab49a.html#axzz1vdNlJiWu">$100 million</a></p>
<p><strong>What happened:&nbsp;</strong>In what might be the most disastrous IPO of all time, BATS, an alternative stock exchange, was forced to pull out after a bizarre technological glitch in&nbsp;<strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/bats-ipo-2012-3">its own exchange!</a>&nbsp;</strong>Trading was halted after the stock plunged to&nbsp;$.04 from an initial price of $15.25 just a few moments after it opened. That, and a similar error with Apple stock raised serious concerns about the company's technology. The debacle is estimated to have cost Morgan Stanley and other underwriters $7.1 million in fees.&nbsp;</p></p>
<br/><br/><h3>Goldman Sachs</h3>
<img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/4e9d7c8969bedd7445000023-400-300/goldman-sachs.jpg" alt="" />
<p><p><strong>Key dates:</strong>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ipo-daily-report-goldman-sachs-files-for-ipo-8-24-98">August 24th, 1998</a>&nbsp;(IPO filed),&nbsp;<a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1998/sep/29/business/fi-27436">September 28th, 1998</a>&nbsp;(IPO pulled)</p>
<p><strong>IPO Size: </strong><a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1998/aug/25/business/fi-16209">$3 Billion</a></p>
<p><strong>What happened: </strong>In the run up to its IPO, Goldman's earnings fell short and an over-reliance on trading became obvious. Further, banking stocks were getting crushed and it was clear the company would trade at a valuation unacceptable to&nbsp;partners who had hoped to make their fortune on the deal. The IPO was eventually withdrawn. Goldman&nbsp;held its IPO a year later, and raised <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/top-25-ipos-2012-5#the-goldman-sachs-group-366-billion-9">$3.66 billion</a>, but the initial failure was an embarrassing incident for the bank and then CEO Jon Corzine.&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p></p>
<br/><br/><h3>Solyndra</h3>
<img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4e6a449b6bb3f7a73b000010-400-300/solyndra.jpg" alt="" />
<p><p><strong>Key dates:</strong>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/markets/ipos/company/solyndra-inc-786680-62915?tab=financials">December 18th, 2009</a>&nbsp;(IPO filed),&nbsp;<a href="http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9GDLJAG0.htm">June 18, 2010</a>&nbsp;(IPO pulled)</p>
<p><strong>IPO Size:&nbsp;</strong><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9GDLJAG0.htm">$300 million</a></p>
<p><strong>What happened: </strong>In an ominous sign of things to come, Solyndra canceled<strong>&nbsp;</strong>a planned IPO in June of 2010. In hindsight, there were <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9GDLJAG0.htm">some truly scary numbers</a>, a total debt of $140.9 million, a now infamous loan of $539 million from the Department of Energy, and a net loss of $172 million in 2009. The company declared bankruptcy <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/solyndra-bankruptcy-2011-8">in August 2011</a> marking a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/solyndra-gate-returns-treasury-officials-had-only-one-day-to-review-the-loan-2012-4">huge blemish</a> for the Obama administration.</p></p>
<br/><br/><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/8-botched-ipos-2012-6#prada-4">See the rest of the story at Business Insider</a> http://www.businessinsider.com/obamas-department-of-energy-is-an-enormous-embarrassment-2012-5Obama's Department Of Energy Is An Enormous Embarrassmenthttp://www.businessinsider.com/obamas-department-of-energy-is-an-enormous-embarrassment-2012-5
Thu, 24 May 2012 08:00:00 -0400Alex Biles
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/417a6c79e0af534a0a182300/solyndra-solar.jpg" border="0" alt="solyndra solar" /></p><p>Remember the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/solyndra" class="hidden_link">Solyndra</a> disaster?</p>
<p>In an effort to "put Americans back to work," the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/obama-administration" class="hidden_link">Obama Administration</a> loaned the company $535 million to aid in the construction of a manufacturing plant for solar panels.</p>
<p>Energy Secretary Steven Chu&nbsp;<a href="http://energy.gov/articles/obama-administration-offers-535-million-loan-guarantee-solyndra-inc">called the investment</a>&nbsp;"part of President Obama's aggressive strategy to put Americans back to work." Ultimately, the company ended up having to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/31/BU1R1KU8G2.DTL&amp;ao=all">lay off droves of employees</a>&nbsp;and filed for bankruptcy, despite its&nbsp;<a href="http://energy.gov/articles/obama-administration-offers-535-million-loan-guarantee-solyndra-inc">original promise to create thousands</a>&nbsp;of new jobs.</p>
<p>An in-depth look at the Administration's energy investments shows that Solyndra is just the tip of the iceberg.</p><h3>Currently, there are 12 clean energy companies that received $6.5 billion in Department of Energy (DOE) loans that are struggling to meet expectations set in their federal loan applications.</h3>
<img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4e7ccb8a69bedd880d000028-400-300/currently-there-are-12-clean-energy-companies-that-received-65-billion-in-department-of-energy-doe-loans-that-are-struggling-to-meet-expectations-set-in-their-federal-loan-applications.jpg" alt="" />
<p><p style="text-align: left;" align="center">Source: <a href="http://click.targetedvictoryemail.com/?ju=fe6316707167007a7712&amp;ls=fdeb15797765027e711d797d&amp;m=fe9315707360037b71&amp;l=feca16707c67007e&amp;s=fe37177277640775771672&amp;jb=ffcf14&amp;t=">CBS News</a></p></p>
<br/><br/><h3>As if Solyndra's losses weren't bad enough, since 2009, five other clean energy investments have gone into bankruptcy.</h3>
<img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/4fbcf09569beddec59000003-400-300/as-if-solyndras-losses-werent-bad-enough-since-2009-five-other-clean-energy-investments-have-gone-into-bankruptcy.jpg" alt="" />
<p><p>Sources: <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204505304576655163362243984.html">The Wall Street Journal</a>, <a href="http://click.targetedvictoryemail.com/?ju=fe6416707167007a7016&amp;ls=fdeb15797765027e711d797d&amp;m=fe9315707360037b71&amp;l=feca16707c67007e&amp;s=fe37177277640775771672&amp;jb=ffcf14&amp;t=">Fox News</a>, <a href="http://click.targetedvictoryemail.com/?ju=fe6116707167007a7112&amp;ls=fdeb15797765027e711d797d&amp;m=fe9315707360037b71&amp;l=feca16707c67007e&amp;s=fe37177277640775771672&amp;jb=ffcf14&amp;t=">Raser Technologies</a></p></p>
<br/><br/><h3>One of the largest failures has been Beacon Energy. The Tyngsboro, Mass. energy storage company went bankrupt after receiving $43 million in a DOE loan. Standard & Poor's saw this coming a mile away, giving the project an original outlook of CCC-plus, or a 70% chance of default.</h3>
<img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4fbcf14aecad04c617000009-400-300/one-of-the-largest-failures-has-been-beacon-energy-the-tyngsboro-mass-energy-storage-company-went-bankrupt-after-receiving-43-million-in-a-doe-loan-standard-and-poors-saw-this-coming-a-mile-away-giving-the-project-an-original-outlook-of-ccc-plus-or-a-70-chance-of-default.jpg" alt="" />
<p><p><span style="color: #222222;">Sources: <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204505304576655163362243984.html">The Wall Street Journal</a>, <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57358484/tax-dollars-backing-some-risky-energy-projects/?tag=mncol;lst;7">CBS News</a></span></p></p>
<br/><br/><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obamas-department-of-energy-is-an-enormous-embarrassment-2012-5#raser-technologies-based-in-utah-has-never-produced-more-than-5-megawatts-of-power-at-its-plant-its-burned-through-hundreds-of-millions-in-investments-including-a-33-million-federal-loan-4">See the rest of the story at Business Insider</a> http://www.businessinsider.com/solyndra-gate-returns-treasury-officials-had-only-one-day-to-review-the-loan-2012-4SOLYNDRA IS BACK: New Report Reveals How Little Time The Treasury Had To Study The Loanhttp://www.businessinsider.com/solyndra-gate-returns-treasury-officials-had-only-one-day-to-review-the-loan-2012-4
Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:05:30 -0400Grace Wyler
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4e7cc98769bedd6f1d000000-365-274/solyndra.jpg" border="0" alt="solyndra" width="365" height="274" /></p><p>U.S. Treasury officials had just one day to review the Obama administration's $535 million loan to the now-bankrupt solar panel company <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/solyndra">Solyndra</a>, according to a new audit from the Treasury's Inspector General.&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.treasury.gov/about/organizational-structure/ig/Agency%20Documents/OIG%20Audit%20Report%20%20-%20Consultation%20on%20Solyndra%20Loan%20Guarantee%20Was%20Rushed.pdf">The report</a>, published this week, found that the Treasury's review was "rushed" to accommodate a Department of Energy press release announcing the approval of the Obama administration's first clean energy loan.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In its feedback to the DOE, the Treasury raised several concerns about the loan, including about the amount of equity in the project, and voiced a preference for a partial, rather than a whole, loan guarantee.&nbsp;<span>Although Treasury officials told the inspector general that these concerns were addressed, internal emails suggest that may not have been entirely true.</span></p>
<p>Here are excerpts from two emails included in the audit:&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span>&ldquo;&hellip;this should have been 65% debt and 35% equity instead of 73% debt and 27% equity&hellip; If this had been an 80% guaranteed loan, then the implicit guaranteed loan would have been 64% rather than 73%. <strong>DOE says that their hands are tied on this issue&hellip; They are under pressure to complete a deal.&rdquo;&nbsp;</strong></span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">&ldquo;we pressed on certain issues such as why we aren&rsquo;t providing only a partial guarantee and covering a smaller percentage of the eligible project costs, but <strong>the train really has left the station on this deal.&rdquo;&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p>The report provides more damning evidence that the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/solyndra-email-dump-implicates-obama-rahm-emanuel-treasury-illegal-bankruptcy-fundraiser-2011-10">Obama administration was intimately involved in the Solyndra deal</a>, and that the loan was rushed through for political expediency despite <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/government-totally-ignored-the-inevitable-solyndra-disaster-2011-9">major warning signs about the financial viability of the company</a> and the terms of the loan. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/solyndra-gate-the-scandal-threatening-the-obama-administration-2011-9">Solyndra declared bankruptcy</a> in August 2011, and the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/solargate-the-fbi-is-investigating-solyndra-for-accounting-fraud-2011-9">FBI has launched an investigation</a> into whether the company lied about its finances to obtain the loan.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The new evidence now threatens to reignite the Solyndra &nbsp;scandal, providing Republicans with more ammunition to hammer Obama's energy and government spending records as the party steps up its attacks going into the 2012 general election.&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/solyndra-gate-returns-treasury-officials-had-only-one-day-to-review-the-loan-2012-4#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/a-bankruptcy-judge-has-approved-the-solyndra-bonuses-2012-2A Bankruptcy Judge Has Approved The Solyndra Bonuseshttp://www.businessinsider.com/a-bankruptcy-judge-has-approved-the-solyndra-bonuses-2012-2
Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:48:51 -0500AP
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4e7cc98769bedd6f1d000000-401-300/solyndra.jpg" border="0" alt="solyndra" width="401" height="300" /></p><p>WILMINGTON, Delaware (AP) &mdash; A bankruptcy judge has approved close to $370,000 in bonuses for certain employees of <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/solyndra">Solyndra</a> LLC, a solar panel manufacturer that received a half-billion dollar loan from the federal government before declaring bankruptcy.</p>
<p>Solyndra, based in Fremont, California, wanted to award bonuses of up to $500,000 to as many as 21 employees but scaled back its request after discussions with its official creditors committee.</p>
<p>The judge approved the revised bonus request following a hearing Wednesday.</p>
<p>Solyndra, which has failed to find a buyer to operate the company as a going concern, says it needs to retain key employees with the expertise needed for an orderly liquidation of its remaining assets.</p>
<p>Attorneys for former Solyndra workers laid off just before bankruptcy filing objected to the proposed bonuses.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/a-bankruptcy-judge-has-approved-the-solyndra-bonuses-2012-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/the-next-solyndra-president-obama-mentions-an-energy-company-in-his-big-speech-and-it-goes-bankrupt-instantly-2012-1President Obama Mentions An Energy Company In His Big Speech And It Goes Bankrupt Instantlyhttp://www.businessinsider.com/the-next-solyndra-president-obama-mentions-an-energy-company-in-his-big-speech-and-it-goes-bankrupt-instantly-2012-1
Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:54:00 -0500Michael Brendan Dougherty
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4f20ad39eab8ea6877000042/obama-state-of-the-union.jpg" border="0" alt="obama state of the union" /></p><p>Andrew Restuccia <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/206777-doe-backed-battery-company-files-for-bankruptcy">of The Hill</a> is reporting that Ener1, a battery company that President Obama referenced in his State of The Union Speech on Tuesday as an example of successful energy investments, has just filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.&nbsp;</p>
<p>That's just two days after the speech.</p>
<p><span>&ldquo;In three years, our partnership with the private sector has already positioned America to be the world&rsquo;s leading manufacturer of high-tech batteries,&rdquo; Obama said in his speech.&nbsp;</span></p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-26/ener1-battery-maker-seeks-chapter-11-bankruptcy-protection.html">Phil Milford <span>and Dawn McCarty</span>&nbsp;at Businessweek</a>, Ener1 had received a&nbsp;$118 million U.S. Energy Department grant to make electric-car batteries. And the grant received bi-partisan support, so it is not entirely on Obama's shoulders. From <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-26/ener1-battery-maker-seeks-chapter-11-bankruptcy-protection.html">Businessweek</a>:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span><span>Under President Barack Obama&rsquo;s economic stimulus package, the Energy Department awarded grants in an attempt to create a U.S. electric-car industry. Ener1 subsidiary EnerDel was the grant recipient and has received about $55 million of its grant so far. A spokesman for the Energy Department, Jen Stutsman, said the department would provide comment soon.</span></span></p>
<p><span>In the 2010 State of the Union address, Obama mentioned <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/solyndra" class="hidden_link">Solyndra</a> as another successful investment by the government in private-sector green-energy companies:</span></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span><span>"You can see the results of last year's investments in clean energy. A North Carolina company that will create 1,200 jobs nationwide helping to make advanced batteries. Or in the California business, that will put a thousand people to work making solar panels,"</span></span></p>
<p><span><span></span><span>Solyndra, that California business, received a $535 million loan guarantee from the government &nbsp;before going bankrupt last September. Its top executives were enthusiastic Obama campaign donors. Solyndra had also spent nearly $1.8 million lobbying the government prior to receiving the loan guarantee.&nbsp;<br /></span></span></p>
<p><span><span>It's obviously hugely embarrassing for the president to give another green-energy company a shout-out in his prime-time speech only to have it declare bankruptcy two days later.&nbsp;</span></span></p>
<p><span><span>DEVELOPING</span></span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-next-solyndra-president-obama-mentions-an-energy-company-in-his-big-speech-and-it-goes-bankrupt-instantly-2012-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-romney-is-winning-in-person-he-seems-like-a-president-not-a-robot-2012-1ROMNEY SHOCKER: In Person He Seems Like A President, Not A Robothttp://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-romney-is-winning-in-person-he-seems-like-a-president-not-a-robot-2012-1
Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:28:00 -0500Michael Brendan Dougherty
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4f0aff8569bedd8238000020-400-/mitt-romney-in-nashua.jpg" border="0" alt="Mitt Romney in Nashua" width="400" /></p><p><em>NASHUA N.H.&ndash;</em>&nbsp; I have never liked Mitt Romney. I thought he was creepy.</p>
<p>One day he is more pro-choice than Ted Kennedy. Now he is more pro-life than the Pope. He's for an individual health-care mandate in his state, now against the Obamacare it inspired. He just didn't seem credible</p>
<p>I was convinced that Republicans would just never trust Romney. And on the national level, they don't. &nbsp;So I couldn't understand why he was on track to really kick everyone in the pants in tomorrow's primary.&nbsp;Until I saw him this morning in my Nashua hotel's ballroom.</p>
<p>He&nbsp;is just so much better in person than he is on television.</p>
<p>He is energetic, while the other candidates look exhausted. He is quick while they pause frequently. On television this quality sometimes comes off as manic and staged and over-prepared. But when you're in the room with him he just seems a little more alive than everyone else. His preparation actually seems like a compliment to the audience. He cared enough to do his best.&nbsp;</p>
<p>And he looks way more presidential than anyone of the other candidates I've seen this past weekend - except maybe Jon Huntsman.&nbsp;</p>
<p>I've seen the majority of national politicians in person now. Bill Clinton, Mike Huckabee, and Barack Obama would rank at the top for working a room. Mitt Romney isn't at that level, but this morning he was near it.</p>
<p>Romney was speaking to about 300 people from the Nashua Chamber of Commerce and about 200 media members. The speech was very simple and understandable to the small-business owners here in Nashua. "Wouldn't it be nice if people in Washington didn't spend more than they take in?" he said, contrasting the public sector with the private one, "Wouldn't it be nice if someone there actually looked at the data?"&nbsp;</p>
<p>Romney was just really excellent at explaining how the Obama administration can distort a free market.&nbsp;</p>
<p>He compared the way <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/bain-capital" class="hidden_link">Bain Capital</a> helped start <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/staples" class="hidden_link">Staples</a>, a company that acted lean for its first years and received just $5 million of capital investment, with the way <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/category/solyndra">Solyndra</a> acted after receiving $530 million from Washington, getting fancy corporate offices.&nbsp;</p>
<p>"When people saw what Staples was doing, they got into the same market too. But when other solar companies saw <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/solyndra" class="hidden_link">Solyndra</a> get $530 million from the government, investors pulled back in that industry," he said. "So instead of encouraging solar development, the Obama administration hurt it."</p>
<p>It was a message that really resonated with the room, and Romney delivered it with conviction and wit. Combine that with all the press saying that he has the momentum and looks the most electable, and you get a freight train that the other conservatives in this race are not going to be able to stop tomorrow.&nbsp;</p>
<p>To be honest, my personal politics are somewhere in-between the way Jon Huntsman governed Utah and Ron Paul's Constitutionalism. Pro-life, free-market, and anti-war.&nbsp;&nbsp;I think Romney will try to manage the economy from Washington. I think his foreign policy is dangerous.&nbsp;So I don't<em>&nbsp;want</em>&nbsp;to like Romney.</p>
<p>But if I wasn't armed with all these reasons not to like him and I just walked into that ballroom today, I would have voted for him tomorrow. He was that impressive.&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-romney-is-winning-in-person-he-seems-like-a-president-not-a-robot-2012-1#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/steven-chu-solyndra-congress-republicans-department-energy-scandal-2011-11Republicans May Have Totally Killed The Solyndra Scandal By Bullying Steven Chuhttp://www.businessinsider.com/steven-chu-solyndra-congress-republicans-department-energy-scandal-2011-11
Fri, 18 Nov 2011 05:25:00 -0500Grace Wyler
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/18b9b914cc9c94494c2c9d00/steven-chu-worried-tbi.jpg" border="0" alt="steven chu worried tbi" /></p><p>Republicans pulled the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/solyndra" class="hidden_link">Solyndra</a> scandal back into the spotlight with another investigative hearing Thursday, this time grilling Obama's <strong>Energy Secretary <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/steven-chu" class="hidden_link">Steven Chu</a></strong> over why his department threw half a billion dollars at a doomed solar company and whether political influence played a role.</p>
<p>So far, Solyndra's bankruptcy debacle has <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-gops-brilliant-plan-to-shove-the-solyndra-scandal-in-democrats-faces-2011-9">basically been a layup for the GOP</a>, as the White House struggles to explain its political ties to the company, and its involvement in securing the $535 million energy loan.</p>
<p>But House Republicans may have squandered their golden opportunity when they decided to make Chu, <strong>Washington's most lovable nerd</strong>, the fall guy for the scandal.</p>
<p>Hauled in to testify before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Chu was assailed for more than <em>five hours</em> by Republicans who accused him of "putting politics before the stewardship of taxpayer dollars."</p>
<p>The Nobel laureate and all-around science rockstar firmly defended the Department of Energy's loan program:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">"I want to be clear &mdash; over the course of Solyndra&rsquo;s loan guarantee, <strong>I did not make any decision based on political considerations,"</strong> he said in his <a href="http://republicans.energycommerce.house.gov/Media/file/Hearings/Oversight/111711_solyndra/Chu.pdf">opening statement</a>, adding later that the Solyndra decision "was absolutely based only on merits."</p>
<p>When asked if he knew <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gross-out-solyndra-emails-they-about-had-an-orgasm-in-bidens-office-when-we-mentioned-solyndra-2011-11"><strong>George Kaiser</strong></a>, the Obama bundler whose foundation invested in Solyndra, Chu said he had never even heard of him when he approved the loan.</p>
<p>If Chu had been another member of Obama's Cabinet, the testimony may have seemed weak and predictable. Chu, however, is the embodiment of American meritocracy &mdash; he is a 30-year career physicist who won the Nobel Prize for developing methods for cooling and trapping atoms with laser light. This is the last guy you could ever see handing out political favors.</p>
<p>Republicans apparently realized this about halfway through Chu's testimony. So they switched to a more hostile line of attack &mdash; <strong>bullying the nerd.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Rep. Michael Burgess</strong> (R-TX) told Chu he was a<strong> "riverboat gambler"</strong> and implied he was not competent enough to be in charge of the nation's nuclear program. <strong>Rep. Joe Barton</strong> (R-TX), of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/bp" class="hidden_link">BP</a> apology fame, told Chu that "everyone and their dog at DOE" knew who Kaiser was. And <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2011/nov/17/solyndra-hearing-steven-chu-live"><strong>Rep. Morgan Griffith</strong> (R-VA) taunted:</a> "I hope you don't leave your brains at the door."</p>
<p>Chu was totally unflappable, and gently reminded the Committee that he wasn't the one who came up with the loan program in the first place. He noted that Congress even allotted $10 billion for credit risk &mdash; clearly someone knew ahead of time that bankruptcies were a possibility.</p>
<p>These remarks underscore the <em>real</em> problem with trying to make Chu the fall guy: No one person is to blame for the Solyndra debacle &mdash; the entire DOE loan program is seriously flawed. And taking cheap shots at shy nuclear physicists isn't going to fix it.</p>
<h3>DON'T MISS: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/government-totally-ignored-the-inevitable-solyndra-disaster-2011-9">Eight Red Flags The Government Totally Missed In The Solyndra Disaster </a></h3><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/steven-chu-solyndra-congress-republicans-department-energy-scandal-2011-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-urged-solyndra-to-keep-layoffs-quiet-until-after-midterm-elections-2011-11White House Urged Solyndra To Keep Layoffs Quiet Until After Midterm Electionshttp://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-urged-solyndra-to-keep-layoffs-quiet-until-after-midterm-elections-2011-11
Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:05:00 -0500Christopher Santarelli
<p>New e-mails released Tuesday prior to Energy Secretary Steven Chu&rsquo;s testimony before a congressional investigative committee on <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/solyndra">Solyndra</a>, reveal that the Obama administration urged their failing clean energy poster child to keep firm layoffs quiet until after the 2010 midterm elections.</p>
<p>First reported by<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/solyndra-department-of-energy-pushed-hard-for-company-not-to-announce-layoffs-until-after-2010-mid-term-elections/2011/11/15/gIQA2AriON_print.html" target="_blank"> the Washington Post,</a> the October 2010 emails reveal that, despite having&nbsp;received&nbsp;an energy loan from administration of $535 million, the solar panel manufacturer&rsquo;s chief executive had told the Energy Department he&nbsp;intended&nbsp;to announce worker layoffs on October 28. However in an October 30 email, advisers to Solyndra&rsquo;s primary investor, Argonaut Equity, explain that the Energy Department had strongly urged the company to put off the announcement until November 3. The day after midterm elections where Republicans trounced the administration&rsquo;s party.</p>
<p>A Solyndra investor adviser wrote on October 30: &ldquo;They did push very hard for us to hold our announcement of the consolidation to employees and vendors to Nov. 3rd &ndash; oddly they didn&rsquo;t give a reason for that date.&rdquo;</p>
<p>On Nov. 3, 2010, Solyndra announced it would lay off 40 workers and 150 contractors and shut down its <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/fab">Fab</a> 1 factory. The Post notes that the DOE &ldquo;agreed to continue giving Solyndra installments of its federal loan despite the company&rsquo;s failure to meet key terms of the loan, and in February restructured its loan to give investors a chance to recover $75 million in new money they put into the company before taxpayers would be repaid.&rdquo;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/emails-prove-major-obama-donor-discussed-solyndra-loan-with-white-house/" target="_self">Emails released earlier this month</a> revealed that a major donor to the President had discussed Solyndra with White House officials, directly contradicting repeated assurances by the Obama administration that the donor, George Kaiser, had never spoken with the White House about the company. The emails reveal that Solyndra came up during a meeting at the White House with Kaiser at the same time Solyndra was seeking a second federal loan. The second loan was not approved and AP reports that an investment venture controlled by Kaiser made a private loan that resulted in the firm and other investors moving ahead of taxpayers in line for repayment in case of a default by Solyndra.</p>
<p>Solyndra declared bankruptcy in September and laid off its 1,100 workers, leaving taxpayers on the hook for more than a half-billion dollars.</p>
<p><em>This <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/stories/wash-post-energy-dept-pushed-solyndra-to-keep-layoffs-quiet-until-after-midterms/">post</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/">The Blaze</a>.</em></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-urged-solyndra-to-keep-layoffs-quiet-until-after-midterm-elections-2011-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/scandal-deepens-energy-department-pushed-solyndra-to-wait-to-announce-layoffs-until-after-midterm-elections-2011-11SCANDAL DEEPENS: Energy Department Pushed Solyndra To Wait To Announce Layoffs Until After Midterm Electionshttp://www.businessinsider.com/scandal-deepens-energy-department-pushed-solyndra-to-wait-to-announce-layoffs-until-after-midterm-elections-2011-11
Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:34:00 -0500Zeke Miller
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4e68e47becad04ba2800004d-400-/solyndra.jpg" border="0" alt="solyndra" width="400" /></p><p>Newly released emails from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/solyndra" class="hidden_link">Solyndra</a> executives show that the Department of Energy pressured the failed solar energy company to postpone announcing layoffs until after the 2010 midterm elections.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/solyndra-department-of-energy-pushed-hard-for-company-not-to-announce-layoffs-until-after-2010-mid-term-elections/2011/11/15/gIQA2AriON_story.html">First reported by The Washington Post</a>, the emails show a Solyndra investor warning the company against announcing layoffs before the Nov. 2 elections, because the company's loan draw for December had yet to be approved by the Department of Energy.</p>
<p>Democrats suffered a "shellacking," in that race &mdash; and an announcement that a program funded by the controversial stimulus program was in trouble, likely would have hurt Democrats further.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Energy Secretary <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/steven-chu" class="hidden_link">Steven Chu</a> will testify before the committee on allegations that his department mismanaged the loans for political reasons.</p>
<p><em>Read the email chain, <a href="http://republicans.energycommerce.house.gov/Media/file/Hearings/Oversight/111511/Memo.pdf">from the&nbsp;House Energy and Commerce committee,</a> below:</em></p>
<p>On October 8, 2010, Solyndra executives informed DOE that the company&lsquo;s "situation has changed quite dramatically." Mr. Bill Stover, Solyndra&lsquo;s CFO, informed DOE that it would not be able to raise capital by the end of the year, as it originally had planned to do, and "without access to FFB loan funds in October, November, and December for work that has been completed, Solyndra would run out of cash in November"<sup>38</sup></p>
<p>During October, documents produced to the Committee show that the company was working with its investors and bankers to identify a structure for a deal and potential new capital to bring into the company while DOE analyzed potential financial models for the deal. On October 25, 2010, Solyndra Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Brian Harrison emailed DOE and stated that "Solyndra has received some press inquiries about rumors of problems (one of them with quite accurate information) and we have received inbound calls from potential investors. Both of these data points indicate the story is starting to leak outside Solyndra."<sup>39</sup></p>
<p>Harrison went on to state that he would "like to go forward with the internal communication [to employees regarding layoffs] on Thursday, October 28."<sup>40</sup></p>
<p>Harrison&lsquo;s email was forwarded to Jonathan Silver, the Executive Director of the DOE Loan Programs Office, and to Secretary Chu&lsquo;s Chief of Staff. Silver, in turn, forwarded the email to Carol Browner, Ron Klain, and another White House staff member in Browner&lsquo;s office. Browner responded, "[w]hat&lsquo;s the announcement?" to which the Secretary&lsquo;s Chief of Staff responded, "Left you a VM on your cell."<sup>41</sup></p>
<p>On October 30, 2010, advisors for Argonaut Private Equity, Solyndra&lsquo;s largest investor, discussed the status of talks with DOE about the restructuring of the Solyndra guarantee, and noted that "DOE continues to be cooperative and have indicated that they will fund the November draw on our loan (app. $40 million) but have not committed to December yet. They did push very hard for us to hold our announcement of <br />the consolidation to employees and vendors to Nov. 3rd&ndash; oddly they didn't&lsquo;t give a reason for that date."<sup>42&nbsp;</sup>The 2010 federal elections were on November 2; the following day, Solyndra announced that it was shutting down its <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/fab" class="hidden_link">Fab</a> 1 facility and laying off workers. Several emails produced by Argonaut to the Committee reference the fact that the layoff announcement was postponed because of the November 2 elections.</p>
<p>In November, Secretary Chu, in response to questions about Solyndra, noted the importance of government support for renewable energy. The DOE also released a statement, stating that "Solyndra now plans to double rather than triple production of solar panels by 2013,&nbsp;<span>and construction for the company&lsquo;s new facility is ahead of schedule."<sup>43</sup>&nbsp;<span>The Secretary did not mention the financial problems then facing the company.</span></span></p>
<hr />
<p>38: October 11, 2010, email between Solyndra and DOE regarding ―Solyndra advance material<br />39: October 25, 2010, email between Solyndra and DOE regarding ―Internal announcement<br />40: Id.<br />41: October 26, 2010, email regarding ―Internal announcement.<br />42: October 30, 2010 email between Argonaut staff regarding ―One more DoD contact idea,‖ AVI-HCEC-0017729.Majority Memorandum for November 17, 2011 Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Hearing Page 10<br />43:&nbsp;Iris Kuo, Energy Secretary Chu declares ‗Sputnik&lsquo; moment on green race against China, November 30, 2010, at&nbsp;<a href="http://venturebeat.com/2010/11/30/what-energy-secretary-chu-says-on-solyndra-the-decline-in-green-investing/">http://venturebeat.com/2010/11/30/what-energy-secretary-chu-says-on-solyndra-the-decline-in-green-investing/</a>.</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/scandal-deepens-energy-department-pushed-solyndra-to-wait-to-announce-layoffs-until-after-midterm-elections-2011-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/gross-out-solyndra-emails-they-about-had-an-orgasm-in-bidens-office-when-we-mentioned-solyndra-2011-11GROSS-OUT SOLYNDRA EMAILS: 'They About Had An Orgasm In Biden's Office When We Mentioned Solyndra'http://www.businessinsider.com/gross-out-solyndra-emails-they-about-had-an-orgasm-in-bidens-office-when-we-mentioned-solyndra-2011-11
Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:35:00 -0500Michael Brendan Dougherty
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/337a6c7912bcf9496834f500-400-/joe-biden.jpg" border="0" alt="joe biden" width="400" /></p><p>E-mails <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/11/09/solyndra-emails-claim-bidens-staff-about-had-orgasm-about-energy-loans-to-firm/#ixzz1dF1fRsLU%20">obtained</a> by the House Energy And Commerce Committee reveal lobbying by Obama fundraiser, George Kaiser, on behalf of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/solyndra" class="hidden_link">Solyndra</a>, the failing energy company that benefitted from a half-billion in government loans.&nbsp;This contradicts earlier accounts by the White House and Kaiser.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The e-mails revealed that George Kaiser, the Oklahoma billionaire and Obama fundraiser discussed lobbying the White House with his associates Ken Levit and Steve Mitchell, who manages Argonaut Private Equity and is a member of Solyndra's board.&nbsp;<span><br /><br />In a February 2010 message Levit writes that there was a meeting at Vice President Biden's office and that &nbsp;"they seemed to love our Brady Project &mdash; also all big fans of Solyndra."</span></p>
<p>&ldquo;They about had an orgasm in Biden&rsquo;s office when we mentioned Solyndra,&rdquo; Levit wrote.</p>
<p>Steve Mitchell responded: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s awesome! Get us a doe loan.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Kaiser also joined in the e-mail chain, outlining the strategy for winning more government loans to Mitchell. "We can possibly reinforce the effort so long as it is in the form of 'I thought you should know, in case it comes up' rather than 'can you help with this,'" Kaiser wrote.&nbsp;<span><br /></span></p>
<p>After seeing the e-mails, this week House Committee Chairman, Fred Upton wrote to the White House on behalf of the investigation :&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">The White House has repeatedly stated that no political influence was brought to bear with regard to Solyndra, and that Mr. George Kaiser, a Solyndra investor and Obama fundraiser, never discussed Solyndra during any of his 17 visits to the White House. Documents recently obtained by the committee directly contradict those statements<span><br /></span></p>
<p>The slow drip of news about the unfolding scandal continue to hurt the White House. And there are no signs of it stopping.&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gross-out-solyndra-emails-they-about-had-an-orgasm-in-bidens-office-when-we-mentioned-solyndra-2011-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/republicans-attack-obamas-money-problems-after-solyndra-corzine-2011-11Republicans Attack Obama's 'Money Problems' After Solyndra, Corzinehttp://www.businessinsider.com/republicans-attack-obamas-money-problems-after-solyndra-corzine-2011-11
Wed, 09 Nov 2011 07:24:04 -0500Zeke Miller
<p>A new Republican National Committee memo argues that President Barack Obama is engaged in a pattern of financial mismanagement &mdash; looking to tie his close relationship with former <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/mf-global">MF Global</a> CEO Jon Corzine to the Department of Energy's <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/solyndra">Solyndra</a> scandal.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.gop.com/index.php/briefing/comments/obamas_money_problems">Read the memo below:</a></p>
<h2 align="center">Obama&rsquo;s Mismangement Of Trust And Taxpayer Money Is Fueling The Flames Of Two Growing Scandals</h2>
<p align="center"><strong>OBAMA&rsquo;S OWN &ldquo;WALL STREET GUY&rdquo; HAS MISPLACED HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS</strong></p>
<p><strong>President Obama: Jon Corzine Is &ldquo;Our Wall Street Guy.&rdquo; &ldquo;</strong>The rollout also provided a showcase for Corzine, the former <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/goldman-sachs">Goldman Sachs</a> CEO whom Obama referred to as &lsquo;our Wall Street guy&rsquo; at a meeting of Democratic governors in Chicago on Friday.&rdquo;(Claire Heininger, &ldquo;Corzine Profile Rises In Obama Camp,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><a href="http://link.sc.states.gop.com/?262-1242-1244-757-23687">The Star-Ledger (NJ),</a>&nbsp;</em>6/23/08)</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Corzine Played A &ldquo;Central Role&rdquo; In Obama&rsquo;s Wall Street Fundraising Efforts.</strong>&nbsp;&ldquo;His new legal troubles, sparked by the bankruptcy filing of his investment firm, MF Global, could complicate the president&rsquo;s efforts to raise money from the financial community given Corzine&rsquo;s central role in those efforts.&rdquo; (Michael Isikoff, &ldquo;Corzine, Top Obama Fundraiser, Under FBI Investigation,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><a href="http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/02/8599414-corzine-top-obama-fundraiser-under-fbi-investigation?ocid=twitter">MSNBC</a>,&nbsp;</em>11/2/11)</li>
<li><strong>Corzine Has Bundled Over $500,000 For Obama&rsquo;s Reelection Campaign.&nbsp;</strong>(Center For Responsive Politics,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pres12/bundlers.php?id=N00009638">Opensecrets.Org,</a>&nbsp;Accessed 10/31/11)</li>
<li><strong>&ldquo;Corzine Has Already Held A High-End Fundraiser And Organized A Secret Meet-And-Greet Between Finance Executives And Obama&rsquo;s New Chief Of Staff.&rdquo;</strong>&nbsp;(Peter Stone, Elizabeth Lucas, John Aloysius Farrell, Paul Abowd and Rachael Marcus, &ldquo;Obama Campaign Reports More Than 350 Big Bundlers, Including Solyndra Figures,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.iwatchnews.org/print/7127">Iwatch News,</a></em>&nbsp;10/14/11)</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Jon Corzine&rsquo;s Wall Street Firm, MF Global Has Filed For Bankruptcy.&nbsp;</strong>&ldquo;Broker-dealer&nbsp;MF Global, headed by former&nbsp;New Jersey&nbsp;governor and Goldman Sachs&nbsp;chairman John Corzine, has filed for bankruptcy protection, apparently because of holdings of European debt.&rdquo; (&ldquo;Broker-Dealer MF Global Files For Bankruptcy,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/brokerage/story/2011-10-31/mf-global/51011564/1">USA Today</a>,&nbsp;</em>10/31/11)</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>MF Global&rsquo;s Bankruptcy &ldquo;Will Likely Be One Of The Ten Largest Bankruptcies Ever.&rdquo;</strong>&nbsp;&ldquo;Brokerage firm&nbsp;MF Global&nbsp;filed for bankruptcy earlier this week, in what will likely be one of the ten largest bankruptcies ever, the&nbsp;<em><a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/wall-street-journal">Wall Street Journal</a></em>&nbsp;reported.&rdquo; (Seth Cline, &ldquo;MF Global Employees Gave Big To Democrats Until The End,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/11/brokerage-firm-mf-global-filed.html">Open Secrets</a>, 11/3/11)</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Corzine, One Of Obama&rsquo;s &ldquo;Leading Wall Street Fundraisers,&rdquo; Is Now &ldquo;The Center Of An FBI Investigation.&rdquo;&nbsp;</strong>&ldquo;Jon Corzine, now the center of an FBI investigation into the handling of hundreds of millions of dollars invested in his securities firm, was one of the leading Wall Street fundraisers for President Obama&rsquo;s campaign and suggested to investors that he might take a top administration post if the president were re-elected.&rdquo; (Michael Isikoff, &ldquo;Corzine, Top Obama Fundraiser, Under FBI Investigation,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><a href="http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/02/8599414-corzine-top-obama-fundraiser-under-fbi-investigation?ocid=twitter">MSNBC</a>,&nbsp;</em>11/2/11)</p>
<p><strong>Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars In Customer Money Has Gone Missing From Corzine&rsquo;s Firm</strong>. &ldquo;Federal regulators have discovered that hundreds of millions of dollars in customer money has gone missing from MF Global in recent days, prompting an investigation into the brokerage firm, which is run by Jon S. Corzine, the former New Jersey governor, several people briefed on the matter said on Monday.&rdquo; (Ben Protess,&nbsp;Michael J. De La Merced&nbsp;And&nbsp;Susanne Craig, &ldquo;Regulators Investigating Mf Global For Missing Money,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em>The New York Times&rsquo;&nbsp;</em>&ldquo;<a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/10/31/regulators-investigating-mf-global/?hp">Dealbook</a>,&rdquo; 10/31/11)</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Almost $600 Million Is Still Unaccounted For.</strong>&nbsp;&ldquo;About $593 million of customer funds are unaccounted for, according to a person with knowledge of regulatory probes into the firm&rsquo;s collapse.&rdquo; (<a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/tiffany">Tiffany</a> Kary, &ldquo;JPM, Wilmington Trust On MF Creditor Panel,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-08/mf-global-s-five-member-unsecured-creditors-panel-includes-jpmorgan-chase.html">Bloomberg</a>,&nbsp;</em>11/8/11)</li>
</ul>
<p align="center"><strong><em>Corzine Enjoyed A Cozy Relationship With The Regulators He Battled</em></strong></p>
<p><strong>Regulators Tried To Rein In MF Global, But Corzine Opposed Their Efforts.&nbsp;</strong>&ldquo;Months before MF Global teetered on the brink, federal regulators were seeking to rein in the types of risky trades that contributed to the firm&rsquo;s collapse. But they faced opposition from an influential opponent:&nbsp;Jon S. Corzine, the head of the then little-known brokerage firm.&rdquo; (Azam Ahmed And Ben Protess, &ldquo;As Regulators Pressed Changes, Corzine Pushed Back, And Won,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em>The New York Times&rsquo;&nbsp;</em>&ldquo;<a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/as-regulators-pressed-changes-corzine-pushed-back-and-won/">Dealbook</a>,&rdquo; 11/3/11)</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Corzine&rsquo;s Firm Urged Regulators To Allow Firms To Invest Their Customers&rsquo; Funds In Foreign Debt</strong>. &ldquo;Late last year MF Global -- the failed investment firm headed by Democratic heavyweight Jon S. Corzine that can't account for&nbsp;as much as $900 million&nbsp;of its clients' money -- urged a federal agency to allow futures firms to invest funds from their customer segregated accounts in foreign sovereign debt.&rdquo; (Nancy Watsman, &ldquo;Corzine&rsquo;s MF Global Pushed Regulators To Use Client Funds,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-sunlight-foundation/corzine-mf-global-fed-investigation_b_1074231.html">The Huffington Post</a>,&nbsp;</em>11/4/11)</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>MF Global Had &ldquo;Numerous Communications&rdquo; With The Federal Government Over The Implementation Of Obama&rsquo;s Financial Reform Bill.</strong>&nbsp;&ldquo;MF Global's comment letter is just one of numerous communications the firm had with federal agencies over implementation of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, according to meeting logs maintained by federal agencies combined and posted on the Sunlight Foundation's Dodd-Frank Meeting Log tracker.&rdquo; (Nancy Watsman, &ldquo;Corzine&rsquo;s MF Global Pushed Regulators To Use Client Funds,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-sunlight-foundation/corzine-mf-global-fed-investigation_b_1074231.html">The Huffington Post</a>,&nbsp;</em>11/4/11)</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Corzine Met Personally With Agency Staff At Least Four Times.</strong>&nbsp;&ldquo;Corzine,&nbsp;a leading Wall Street fundraiser for President Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign, met personally with agency staff on&nbsp;at least four&nbsp;occasions,&nbsp;one of those&nbsp;a conference call that included CFTC chairman <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/gary-gensler">Gary Gensler</a>.&rdquo; (Nancy Watsman, &ldquo;Corzine&rsquo;s MF Global Pushed Regulators To Use Client Funds,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-sunlight-foundation/corzine-mf-global-fed-investigation_b_1074231.html">The Huffington Post</a>,&nbsp;</em>11/4/11)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>&ldquo;Overall, MF Global Staff, Including Corzine, Met With Agency Officials Ten Times, All But One Of Those Meetings With The CFTC.&rdquo;&nbsp;</strong>(Nancy Watsman, &ldquo;Corzine&rsquo;s MF Global Pushed Regulators To Use Client Funds,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-sunlight-foundation/corzine-mf-global-fed-investigation_b_1074231.html">The Huffington Post</a>,&nbsp;</em>11/4/11)<strong></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>The Chairman Of The <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/commodity-futures-trading-commission">Commodity Futures Trading Commission</a> Recused Himself From Investigating Corzine&rsquo;s Firm.&nbsp;</strong>&ldquo;A regulator says he withdrew from an investigation of Jon Corzine's collapsed securities firm to avoid being a &lsquo;distraction.&rsquo; Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, said Monday that the CFTC has &lsquo;excellent career staff&rsquo; to handle such cases.&rdquo; (Eileen AJj Connelly And Daniel Wagner, &ldquo;Geensler Explains Recusal From Mf Global Probe,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/07/2491292/gensler-explains-recusal-from.html">The Associated Press</a>,&nbsp;</em>11/7/11)</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>The CFTC&rsquo;s Chairman Is Gary Gensler, Who Worked For Corzine When They Worked At Goldman Sachs.&nbsp;</strong>&ldquo;Leading the government&rsquo;s effort to curtail these arcane practices was&nbsp;Gary Gensler, the chairman of C.F.T.C., who had worked for Mr. Corzine at Goldman Sachs. Mr. Gensler pushed for the proposed change in October 2010, and planned to bring it to a vote this summer.&rdquo; (Azam Ahmed And Ben Protess, &ldquo;As Regulators Pressed Changes, Corzine Pushed Back, And Won,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em>The New York Times&rsquo;&nbsp;</em>&ldquo;<a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/as-regulators-pressed-changes-corzine-pushed-back-and-won/">Dealbook</a>,&rdquo; 11/3/11)</li>
<li><strong>&ldquo;When Corzine Ran For New Jersey Governor, Gary Gensler Gave $10,000 To The State Democratic Party, Which Was Trying To Get Corzine Elected.&rdquo;</strong>&nbsp;(Daniel Wagner, &ldquo;MF Global&rsquo;s Regulator Has Ties To Company&rsquo;s Leader,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hIw996_LBWqFW1zImBiX6LUkDmMQ?docId=5882768c19e24cfda941c0ea87ae38a6">The Associated Press</a>,&nbsp;</em>11/3/11)</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><strong>&ldquo;Both Men Are Active Democrats, And Served On Financial Panels Together Recently.&rdquo;</strong>&nbsp;(Azam Ahmed And Ben Protess, &ldquo;As Regulators Pressed Changes, Corzine Pushed Back, And Won,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em>The New York Times&rsquo;&nbsp;</em>&ldquo;<a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/as-regulators-pressed-changes-corzine-pushed-back-and-won/">Dealbook</a>,&rdquo; 11/3/11)<strong></strong></li>
</ul>
<p align="center"><strong>BUT THAT&rsquo;S NOTHING COMPARED TO HOW MUCH TAXPAYER MONEY OBAMA HAS BLOWN THROUGH</strong></p>
<p align="center"><strong><em>Obama&rsquo;s Department Of Energy Has Wasted Billions Of Dollars</em></strong></p>
<p><strong>Obama&rsquo;s $38 Billion Green Energy Stimulus Program Only Has A Few Thousand Jobs To Show For It.</strong>&nbsp;&ldquo;A $38.6 billion loan guarantee program that the Obama administration promised would create or save 65,000 jobs has created just a few thousand jobs two years after it began, government records show. The program &mdash; designed to jump-start the nation&rsquo;s clean technology industry by giving energy companies access to low-cost, government-backed loans &mdash; has directly created 3,545 new, permanent jobs after giving out almost half the allocated amount, according to Energy Department tallies.&rdquo; (Carol D. Leonnig and Steven Mufson, &ldquo;Obama Green-Tech Program That Backed Solyndra Struggles To Create Jobs,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-green-tech-program-that-backed-solyndra-struggles-to-create-jobs/2011/09/07/gIQA9Zs3SK_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines"><em>The Washington Post</em></a>, 9/14/11)</p>
<p><strong>&ldquo;The Jobs Record Is Even More Dismal When You Consider That Many Of The Jobs Classified As Green Aren't Even New Jobs, Much Less Green.&rdquo;</strong>&nbsp;&ldquo;The jobs record is even more dismal when you consider that many of the jobs classified as green aren't even new jobs, much less green, according to a report from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. They include positions that have been &lsquo;relabeled as green jobs by the BLS [Bureau of Labor Statistics].&rsquo;&rdquo; (Editorial, &ldquo;Green Jobs Brown Out,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204524604576611191286160766.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop"><em>The Wall Street Journal</em></a>, 10/11/11)</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>The Cost Of Each Green Job Is $157,000.</strong>&nbsp;&ldquo;This means that bus drivers, Environmental Protection Agency regulators, university professors teaching ecology, and even the Washington lobbyists who secure energy loan guarantees count as green employees for the purposes of government counting. The Oversight Committee finds that even a charitable assessment of the Labor program puts the cost of each green job at $157,000.&rdquo; (Editorial, &ldquo;Green Jobs Brown Out,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204524604576611191286160766.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop"><em>The Wall Street Journal</em></a>, 10/11/11)</li>
</ul>
<p align="center"><strong><em>And Has Been Actively Outsourcing Taxpayer Money</em></strong></p>
<p><strong>In October 2009, It Was Reported That More Than 80 Percent Of The First $1 Billion In Wind Energy Grants Went To Foreign Firms.&nbsp;</strong>&ldquo;The Workshop was the first to report last October that more than 80 percent of the first $1 billion in grants to wind energy companies went to foreign firms.&rdquo; (Russ Choma, &ldquo;<a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/renewable-energy">Renewable Energy</a> Money Still Going Abroad, Despite Criticism From Congress,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/wind-energy-funds-going-overseas/story/renewable-energy-money-still-going-abroad/">Investigating Reporting Workshop/ABC&rsquo;s World News Tonight/Watchdog Institute</a>, 2/8/10)</p>
<p><strong>Since Then, The <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/obama-administration">Obama Administration</a> Has Doled Out Another $1 Billion, Bringing The Total To $2.1 Billion And The Total That Went To Foreign Companies To More Than 79 Percent.&nbsp;</strong>&ldquo;Since then, the administration has stopped making announcements of new grants to wind, solar and geothermal companies, but has handed out another $1 billion, bringing the total given out to $2.1 billion and the total that went to companies based overseas to more than 79 percent.&rdquo; (Russ Choma, &ldquo;Renewable Energy Money Still Going Abroad, Despite Criticism From Congress,&rdquo;<a href="http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/wind-energy-funds-going-overseas/story/renewable-energy-money-still-going-abroad/">Investigating Reporting Workshop/ABC&rsquo;s World News Tonight/Watchdog Institute</a>, 2/8/10)</p>
<p><strong>Nearly $2 Billion In Stimulus Funds Has Gone To Foreign Manufacturers Of Wind Turbines.</strong>&nbsp;&ldquo;Nearly $2 billion in money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been spent on wind power, funding the creation of enough new wind farms to power 2.4 million homes over the past year. But the study found that nearly 80 percent of that money has gone to foreign manufacturers of wind turbines.&rdquo; (Jonathan Karl, &ldquo;New Wind Farms In The U.S. Do Not Bring Jobs,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=9759949"><em>ABC News</em></a>, 2/9/10)</p>
<p><strong>The EPA Sent $27 Million Of Stimulus Funds To China To Help Them Comply With International Air Pollution Treaties.</strong>&ldquo;China and other foreign interests have been significant beneficiaries of stimulus money through the Environmental Protection Agency, to the tune of some $27 million, since the law passed in February 2009. Congressional investigators with the House Energy and Commerce Committee found that the EPA engaged in practices such as giving a $718,000 grant to the China State Environment Protection Administration to help it comply with the Stockholm and Long Range Transport of Air Pollutants Convention among others.&rdquo; (John Rossomando, &ldquo;EPA Stimulating Environmental Regulations Abroad,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/07/epa-stimulating-environmental-regulations-abroad/"><em>The Daily Caller</em></a>, 7/7/11)</p>
<p align="center"><strong><em>Other DOE Spending Has Come With Possible Criminal Implications</em></strong></p>
<p><strong>Over 100 Criminal Investigations Have Been Launched By The Energy Department&rsquo;s Inspector General Into The Way Stimulus Money Was Spent.</strong>&nbsp;&ldquo;The Energy Department's inspector general has launched more than 100 criminal investigations related to 2009 economic stimulus spending. In written testimony prepared for delivery to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today, Inspector General Gregory Friedman said the investigations have involved &lsquo;various schemes, including the submission of false information, claims for unallowable or unauthorized expenses, and other improper uses of Recovery Act funds.&rsquo;&rdquo; (Darius Dixon, &ldquo;DOE IG: 100+ Stimulus-Related Criminal Probes,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/67444.html"><em>Politico</em></a>, 11/2/11)</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Including Five Criminal Prosecutions Which Have Recovered $2.3 Million.</strong>&nbsp;&ldquo;So far, the investigations have led to five criminal prosecutions and brought in &lsquo;over $2.3 million in monetary recoveries,&rsquo; Friedman said. &lsquo;This includes a series of cases involving fictitious claims for travel per diem resulting in the recovery of $1 million alone in Recovery Act funds,&rsquo; he added.&rdquo; (Darius Dixon, &ldquo;DOE IG: 100+ Stimulus-Related Criminal Probes,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="http://link.sc.states.gop.com/?262-1245-1247-757-23680"><em>Politico</em></a>, 11/2/11)</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Energy Department Inspector General Gregory Friedman: The Energy Department&rsquo;s Loan Program Was Not Monitored Well Enough To Mitigate Risky Investments.</strong>&nbsp;&ldquo;&lsquo;The Loan Guarantee Program had not [been] properly documented and as such could not always readily demonstrate how it resolved or mitigated relevant risks prior to granting loan guarantees,&rsquo; Friedman said.&rdquo; (Darius Dixon, &ldquo;DOE IG: 100+ Stimulus-Related Criminal Probes,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="http://link.sc.states.gop.com/?262-1245-1247-757-23680"><em>Politico</em></a>, 11/2/11)</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>More Effective Oversight Could Have Prevented Taxpayer Money Being Wasted On Solyndra.&nbsp;</strong>&ldquo;In his testimony, Friedman notes that the department failed to properly document and couldn&rsquo;t always demonstrate how it resolved or mitigated risks prior to granting loan guarantees. Critics have said that such steps might have prevented the Solyndra scandal.&rdquo; (Ed O&rsquo;Keefe, &ldquo;Energy Department Couldn&rsquo;t Manage Stimulus Money, Watchdog Says,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><span>The Washington Post's&nbsp;</span></em><span>"Federal Eye,"</span>, 11/2/11)</li>
</ul>
<p align="center"><strong><em>The Obama Administration Lost $535 Million Of Taxpayer Money With Solyndra</em></strong></p>
<p><strong>Obama&rsquo;s Energy Department Knew In August Of 2009 That Solyndra Would Run Out Of Money In September 2011, Leaving <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/taxpayers">Taxpayers</a> On The Hook.&nbsp;</strong>&ldquo;On August 20, 2009, an Energy Department staffer examining a pending loan to a California clean energy start-up came to a startling conclusion: The company would run out of money by September 2011. The government would, in effect, be placing taxpayers on the hook for a business likely to founder.&rdquo; (Ronnie Greene And Matthew Mosk, &ldquo;Obama Administration Agreed To Solyndra Loan Days After Insiders Foresaw Firm's Failure,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><a href="http://link.sc.states.gop.com/?262-1044-1046-757-19653">iWatch News</a>,&nbsp;</em>9/14/11)</p>
<p><strong>January 2011: Federal Reviewers Said It Would Be &ldquo;Far Cheaper&rdquo; To Not Restructure The Loan.&nbsp;</strong>&ldquo;New records obtained by The <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/washington-post">Washington Post</a> show that some federal reviewers warned internally earlier this year that it would be far cheaper for the government to allow Solyndra to shut down and sell off its assets, rather than to restructure the deal and bet on the company recovering.&rdquo; (Carol D. Leonning And Joe Stephens, &ldquo;Lawmakers Question Solyndra Loan Decision,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><a href="http://link.sc.states.gop.com/?262-1044-1046-757-19658">The Washington Post,</a>&nbsp;</em>9/14/11)</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>&ldquo;A Preliminary Estimate By The Office Of Management And Budget In January Showed That Restructuring Solyndra Could Cost Taxpayers Up To $168 Million More Than Liquidation.&rdquo;</strong>(Carol D. Leonning And Joe Stephens, &ldquo;Lawmakers Question Solyndra Loan Decision,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><a href="http://link.sc.states.gop.com/?262-1044-1046-757-19658">The Washington Post,</a>&nbsp;</em>9/14/11)</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>OMB Staffers Warned That Restructuring Solyndra&rsquo;s Loan Would Be &ldquo;Throwing Good Money After Bad.&rdquo;&nbsp;</strong>&ldquo;OMB staff members had warned that the Energy Department&rsquo;s restructuring of Solyndra&rsquo;s loan might be throwing good money after bad, other e-mails show, and could cost taxpayers $168 million more than if Solyndra had liquidated in January.&rdquo; (Carol D. Leonnig &amp; Joe Stephens, &ldquo;Obama Administration Emails: Giving More Taxpayer Money To Solyndra Was Risky,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><a href="http://link.sc.states.gop.com/?262-1044-1046-757-19646">The Washington Post</a></em>, 9/15/11)</p>
<p><strong>But In February, Obama&rsquo;s Department Of Energy Made The Decision To &ldquo;Waive Its Privilege As First Creditor&rdquo; In Solyndra Loan.</strong>&nbsp;&ldquo;That decision in February gave Solyndra a temporary reprieve and a chance to survive, but it also forced the government to waive its privilege as first creditor in the event of a bankruptcy &mdash; which then occurred at the end of August.&rdquo; (Matthew L. Wald, &ldquo;Questions Raised Over Letting Another Lender Help A Failing Solar Company,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><a href="http://link.sc.states.gop.com/?262-1044-1046-757-19660">The New York Times</a></em>, 9/16/11)</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>And Allowed Taxpayers To Take A Backseat To Private Investors When It Came To Recouping Their Losses.</strong>&nbsp;&ldquo;And as part of the deal, the Energy Department agreed that if the company went bust, private investors could recoup their losses before the government.&rdquo; (Ronnie Greene And Matthew Mosk, &ldquo;Obama Officials Sat In On Solyndra Meetings,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="http://link.sc.states.gop.com/?262-1044-1046-757-19654"><em>iWatch And ABC News</em></a><em>,&nbsp;</em>9/9/11)</li>
</ul>
<p align="center"><strong><em>And Other DOE Loan Guarantees May Be Headed Down The Same <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/path">Path</a></em></strong></p>
<p><strong>&nbsp;&ldquo;&lsquo;What&rsquo;s Terrifying Is That After Looking At Some Of The Ones That Came Next, This One [Solyndra] Started To Look Better,&rsquo; Another OMB E-Mail Exchange Said Of Solyndra. &lsquo;Bad Days Are Coming.&rsquo;&rdquo;</strong>(Amy Harder, &ldquo;E-Mails Show Obama Was Warned; Bitter OMB, DOE Divide Over Solyndra,&rdquo;&nbsp;<em><a href="http://link.sc.states.gop.com/?262-1052-1054-757-19844">National Journal,</a></em>10/3/11)</p>
<p><strong>Government Accountability Office:&nbsp; &ldquo;The Administration Didn&rsquo;t Do Its Due Diligence&rdquo; When Celebrating The $535 Million In Stimulus Funds For Solyndra.&nbsp;</strong>&ldquo;It's not his statements the administration will regret; it's the loan guarantees. The President was celebrating $535 million in federal promises from the Department of Energy to the solar startup. The administration didn't do its due diligence, says the Government Accountability Office. &lsquo;There's a consequence if you don't follow a rigorous process that's transparent,&rsquo; Franklin Rusco of GAO told the website iWatch News.&rdquo; (Scott McGrew, &ldquo;Solyndra Filing A Disaster For Obama,&ldquo;&nbsp;<a href="http://link.sc.states.gop.com/?262-1052-1054-757-19859"><em>NBC Bay Area News</em></a>, 8/31/11)</p>
<p><strong>Solyndra Was One Of Five Companies The Energy Department Failed To Properly Assess, Leaving The GAO &ldquo;Greatly Concerned.&rdquo;&nbsp;</strong>&ldquo;Government auditors are questioning whether the administration may have made other bad bets on clean energy. Frank Rusco, a Government Accountability Office director who helped lead a review of the Solyndra loan and the Energy Department&rsquo;s loan guarantee program, said GAO remains &lsquo;greatly concerned&rsquo; by its 2010 finding that the agency agreed to back with loans five companies without properly assessing their failure risks. The companies were not identified in the report, but the agency has since acknowledged that Solyndra was one.&rdquo;&nbsp; (Carol Leonnig, &ldquo;After Solyndra Failure, Auditors Wonder What Other Bad Bets Obama Officials Made<a href="http://link.sc.states.gop.com/?262-1052-1054-757-19843">,&nbsp;<em>The Washington Post</em></a>, 9/1/11)</p>
<p><strong>GAO Investigation Revealed Obama&rsquo;s Department Of Energy Favored Some Loan Applicants And Disadvantaged Others.</strong>&nbsp;&ldquo;That's when the Government Accountability Office issued an unusually blunt assessment of the Energy Department's loan program in general, concluding that the department had &lsquo;treated applicants inconsistently, favoring some and disadvantaging others.&rsquo;&rdquo; (Matthew Mosk, Brian Ross, And Ronnie Greene, &ldquo;Solyndra Collapse A &lsquo;Waste&rsquo; Of Half A Billion By Obama, GOP Critics Say,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="http://link.sc.states.gop.com/?262-1052-1054-757-19850"><em>ABC News&nbsp;</em></a>, 9/1/11)</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/republicans-attack-obamas-money-problems-after-solyndra-corzine-2011-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/its-friday-heres-what-the-white-house-doesnt-want-you-to-read-2011-11IT'S FRIDAY: Here's What The White House Doesn't Want You To Readhttp://www.businessinsider.com/its-friday-heres-what-the-white-house-doesnt-want-you-to-read-2011-11
Fri, 04 Nov 2011 15:44:00 -0400Zeke Miller
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4e68e47becad04ba2800004d-400-/solyndra.jpg" border="0" alt="solyndra" width="400" /></p><p></p>
<p><em>The government is required to make certain information public. When it could damage their credibility, they dump the news late on Friday afternoon, hoping you don't see it. Here's what they don't want you to notice this week:&nbsp;</em></p>
<p>The White House has rejected a congressional subpoena for documents relating to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/solyndra" class="hidden_link">Solyndra</a>, the bankrupt solar energy company that received half-a-billion in federally backed loans.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/edhenrytv">Per Fox News' Ed Henry,</a> the White House rejected the request as "overbroad"&nbsp;and "driven more by partisan politics," adding it is "a significant intrusion on Executive Branch interests."</p>
<p>The White House and the Department of Energy have turned over tens of thousands of documents relating to the loan &mdash; which Republicans claim was made despite warnings that the company was in poor fiscal health. They remain deadlocked over a small number of documents.</p>
<p>The White House says that it "remain[s] willing to work" with the House Energy and Commerce Committee &nbsp;to produce documents in a "balanced manner," <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/edhenrytv">Henry tweets.</a></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/its-friday-heres-what-the-white-house-doesnt-want-you-to-read-2011-11#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/its-friday-here-is-what-the-white-house-hopes-you-dont-read-2011-10IT'S FRIDAY: Here Is What The White House Hopes You Don't Readhttp://www.businessinsider.com/its-friday-here-is-what-the-white-house-hopes-you-dont-read-2011-10
Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:23:55 -0400Michael Brendan Dougherty
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4e8c4b99eab8eaea1300009b/obama-sad.jpg" border="0" alt="obama sad" /></p><p>In this week's late-Friday news dump: the White House announces it is checking to see if they issued more dubious loans - as they did in the <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/solyndra">Solyndra</a> Scandal. &nbsp;</p>
<p>White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley is ordering a review of the Department of Energy's loan guarantees in order to discover or prevent more <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/solyndra-gate-the-scandal-threatening-the-obama-administration-2011-9">Solyndra style scandals</a>,&nbsp;according to Chuck Todd of <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/msnbc">MSNBC</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The man that Obama has deputized to find bad loan guarantees is <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/herb-allison">Herb Allison</a>, the same Merril Lynch-vet who was made President and CEO of <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/fannie-mae">Fannie Mae</a> when the government took that firm into conservatorship in 2008. Allison will be leading a small team to make a sixty-day review of the over two-dozen loans made during the Obama administration.&nbsp;</p>
<p><a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/politico">Politico</a> has the rest of the story <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/67098.html">here</a>.&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/its-friday-here-is-what-the-white-house-hopes-you-dont-read-2011-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/rick-perrys-solyndra-loan-program-he-oversaw-in-the-1990s-had-high-default-rate-2011-10Rick Perry's Solyndra?: Report Alleges That Loan Program He Oversaw In The 1990s Ignored Lending Standardshttp://www.businessinsider.com/rick-perrys-solyndra-loan-program-he-oversaw-in-the-1990s-had-high-default-rate-2011-10
Mon, 24 Oct 2011 08:01:19 -0400Zeke Miller
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/4e68d290ecad041d11000027/rick-perry.png" border="0" alt="Rick Perry" /></p><p>Texas Gov. Rick Perry's oversight of a publicly-funded loan program is coming under scrutiny for high default rates &mdash; providing new fodder for his Republican opponents.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/state-loan-program-that-perry-touted-had-to-1928962.html?viewAsSinglePage=true">The Austin American-Statesman reports</a> that while Agriculture&nbsp;Commissioner, Perry and other board members of the&nbsp;Texas Agricultural Finance Authority ignored their own lending guidelines, and as a result nearly 30 percent of the agency's loans went bad.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">"Even as the first alarms were sounded, Perry defended the program, saying no taxpayer money was at risk, blaming others and claiming he had fixed it.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">It only got worse."</p>
<p>Perry bailed-out the program in 2009, when he signed a budget including&nbsp;$14.7 million to pay off the bad loan guarantees.</p>
<p>Previously, Perry has come under fire for his state's&nbsp;Emerging Technology Fund, which has had questionable job-creation statistics, amid reports that over $16 million of the fund <a href="http://blog.chron.com/rickperry/2011/10/perrys-solyndra-problem/">was disbursed to companies with close ties to campaign contributors.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/state-loan-program-that-perry-touted-had-to-1928962.html?viewAsSinglePage=true">Read the full report at the Austin American-Statesman &gt;</a></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rick-perrys-solyndra-loan-program-he-oversaw-in-the-1990s-had-high-default-rate-2011-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/cheap-solar-panels-boom-2011-10Cheap Solar Panels Are Bad For Solar Panel Companies But Great For US Energyhttp://www.businessinsider.com/cheap-solar-panels-boom-2011-10
Mon, 24 Oct 2011 05:17:00 -0400AP
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/4e42767e69bedd0458000027/solar-power.jpg" border="0" alt="solar power" /></p><p>NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; Solar energy may finally get its day in the sun.</p>
<p>The high costs that for years made it impractical as a mainstream source of energy are plummeting. Real estate companies are racing to install solar panels on office buildings. Utilities are erecting large solar panel "farms" near big cities and in desolate deserts. And creative financing plans are making solar more realistic than ever for homes.</p>
<p>Solar power installations doubled in the United States last year and are expected to double again this year. More solar energy is being planned than any other power source, including nuclear, coal, natural gas and wind.</p>
<p>"We are at the beginning of a turning point," says Andrew Beebe, who runs global sales for <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/suntech-power" class="hidden_link">Suntech Power</a>, a manufacturer of solar panels.</p>
<p>Solar's share of the power business remains tiny. But its promise is great. The sun splashes more clean energy on the planet in one hour than humans use in a year, and daytime is when power is needed most. And solar panels can be installed near where people use power, reducing or eliminating the costs of moving power through a grid.</p>
<p>Solar power has been held back by costs. It's still about three times more expensive than electricity produced by natural gas, according to estimates by the Energy Information Administration.</p>
<p>But the financial barriers are falling fast. Solar panel prices have plunged by two-thirds since 2008, making it easier for installers to market solar's financial benefits, and not simply its environmental ones. Homeowners who want to go solar can do so for free and pay the same or less for their power.</p>
<p>Last month two of the nation's biggest utilities, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/exelon" class="hidden_link">Exelon</a> and NextEra Energy, each acquired a large California solar power farm in the early stages of development. Another utility, NRG Energy, has announced a plan with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/bank-of-america" class="hidden_link">Bank of America</a> and the real estate firm Prologis to spend $1.4 billion to install solar systems on 750 commercial rooftops.</p>
<p>Nationwide, solar power installations grew by 102 percent from 2009 to 2010, by far the fastest rate in the past five years.</p>
<p>"Every manufacturer globally is looking around for the next major growth market, and the U.S. is the first one everyone points to," says Shayle Kann, managing director for solar research at GTM Research.</p>
<p>Making solar affordable still requires large tax breaks and other subsidies from federal and state governments. The main federal subsidy pays for 30 percent of the cost of a residential system. When state and other subsidies are added, as much as 75 percent of the cost can be covered.</p>
<p>But prices of solar panels, the squares of crystalline silicon or thin layers of metal films that turn the sun's rays into electricity, are falling so fast that its advocates now credibly claim that solar will be able to compete with fossil fuels even when the federal solar subsidy shrinks by two-thirds in 2016.</p>
<p>"Over the past 10 years the industry has made the case that we needed to increase scale so we could reduce prices," says <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/arno-harris" class="hidden_link">Arno Harris</a>, CEO of solar developer <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/recurrent-energy" class="hidden_link">Recurrent Energy</a>, a subsidiary of Sharp Corp. "We're seeing it happen."</p>
<p>The falling prices have made it easier for solar installers to raise the money needed to grow. And they've made solar power systems so affordable they can appeal to homeowners who want to save on their electric bill, not just reduce their environmental impact.</p>
<p>Tim Johnson, a high school math teacher in Philadelphia, had wanted to put solar panels on his roof for years. Like many people concerned about the environment, the thought of powering his home without burning fossil fuels had a strong appeal. But with two kids in college, he couldn't justify spending $15,000, after subsidies, to do it.</p>
<p>But since March, he has generated 50 percent to 75 percent of his electricity with a set of solar panels on his roof, saving 20 percent on his electricity bills. His upfront cost for the system: $0.</p>
<p>Instead of buying and installing the panels himself, he signed up with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/sunrun" class="hidden_link">SunRun</a>, one of a handful of companies that build, own and maintain solar systems on homes. These companies earn money by charging customers for the power the panels produce.</p>
<p>Johnson pays SunRun $52 a month, and he pays his traditional utility for whatever extra power he needs from the grid. In all, he pays $60 to $100 a month for power; he used to pay $90 to $120.</p>
<p>SunRun can charge Johnson a competitive rate because federal and state subsidies pay for a portion of the installation. Also, the arrangement allows SunRun to take advantage of one of solar's big advantages. Because it is generated near where it is needed, it doesn't have to pass through hundreds of miles of wires, transformers and other equipment. The power price SunRun has to beat in order to entice customers like Johnson is an expensive retail rate, bloated with transmission and distribution charges that home solar doesn't incur.</p>
<p>It would be cheaper over the long run for a homeowner to buy and install a solar system because he would not have to pay a company like SunRun for financing, service and maintenance. But these plans have growing appeal because they don't require homeowners to lay out thousands of dollars up front.</p>
<p>In California, which leads the nation in solar power installations, 51 percent of the residential solar systems installed through the first three quarters of this year were sold with these plans, up from 12 percent in 2009.</p>
<p>SunRun and competitors such as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/solarcity" class="hidden_link">SolarCity</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/sungevity" class="hidden_link">Sungevity</a> are expanding into more states, including Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Last month, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/google" class="hidden_link">Google</a> announced it would create a fund that local installers in every state can tap so they too can offer no-money-down plans.</p>
<p>Some installers are teaming up with big hardware chains <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/home-depot" class="hidden_link">Home Depot</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/lowes" class="hidden_link">Lowe's</a> in an effort to expose solar to customers who might not otherwise consider it.</p>
<p>"Awareness is still one of our biggest problems," says Lynn Jurich, co-founder and president of SunRun, which has a partnership with Home Depot.</p>
<p>Solar panel prices have been declining for years because of lower costs for polycrystalline silicon, the main raw material for most solar panels, and larger-scale manufacturing, especially in Asia. In the last six months, demand has dropped sharply in Germany, the world's biggest solar market, in response to shrinking subsidies. This has created a global glut of solar panels and accelerated the decline in prices.</p>
<p>Solar panels, which are priced based on the amount of power they can produce during full sunshine, sold for $1.34 per watt in mid-September, according to data from <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/bloomberg" class="hidden_link">Bloomberg</a> New Energy Finance. That's down from $1.90 at the beginning of 2010. In 2008, they sold for $4 a watt.</p>
<p>The glut has been gut-wrenching for companies that make solar panels. Many of them remain profitable and are growing. But three U.S. panel makers have filed for bankruptcy in two months, including <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/solyndra" class="hidden_link">Solyndra</a>, a solar panel maker that received a $528 million federal loan.</p>
<p>Falling profit margins are scaring investors. The stock price of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/first-solar" class="hidden_link">First Solar</a> Inc. has fallen from $170 in April to $53.77. Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. has fallen from $11 to $2.07 over the same period.</p>
<p>The Solyndra bankruptcy has sparked a political uproar. Republicans have accused the Obama administration of pushing for Solyndra's loan for political reasons and have used the bankruptcy to question Obama's plan to help boost the economy by subsidizing clean energy projects.</p>
<p>The market will not get any easier for small solar panel makers. General Electric Co., <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/samsung" class="hidden_link">Samsung</a> and other big companies are entering the market. This should increase supply and bring down costs even further. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/ge" class="hidden_link">GE</a> announced this month that it would build the largest panel factory in the U.S., near Denver.</p>
<p>But what has been treacherous for solar panel makers has been a boon for companies that market and install solar systems, for companies that make electronics and other parts for solar systems, and for solar customers.</p>
<p>To be sure, solar is growing from a very small base. All of the panels now installed across the nation produce enough electricity to power 600,000 homes, or about as much electricity as one large coal-fired power plant.</p>
<p>There are 30,000 megawatts' worth of solar projects awaiting approval in the U.S., according to the American Public Power Association. Not all of them will be built, either because of regulatory or financial hurdles. But even if only half that is ultimately built, it would be five times what is already installed.</p>
<p>"We're going in the direction the planet and the industry needs to go," says Harris.</p>
<p>Jonathan Fahey can be reached at http://facebook.com/Fahey.Jonathan .</p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cheap-solar-panels-boom-2011-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/solargate-solyndra-ceo-resigns-amid-fraud-investigation-2011-10SOLARGATE: Solyndra CEO Resigns Amid Fraud Investigationhttp://www.businessinsider.com/solargate-solyndra-ceo-resigns-amid-fraud-investigation-2011-10
Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:07:00 -0400Grace Wyler
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/417a6c79e0af534a0a182300/solyndra-solar.jpg" border="0" alt="solyndra solar" /></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/solyndra" class="hidden_link">Solyndra</a> CEO Brian Harrison has left the company, after refusing to answer questions from Congress over the solar company's disastrous bankruptcy that left taxpayers on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars.</p>
<p>Harrison's resignation is apparently a concession to the U.S. Justice Department, which is investigating <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/solargate-the-fbi-is-investigating-solyndra-for-accounting-fraud-2011-9">whether Solyndra misrepresented the company's financial situation</a> in order to obtain &mdash; and later refinance &mdash; a $534 million loan from the federal government.</p>
<p>The company's epic collapse has become a major thorn in the side of the Obama administration, which now faces a Congressional investigation into whether the Solyndra loan was politically motivated.</p>
<p>After Harrison and Solyndra CFO W.G. Stover refused to testify before Congress, the DOJ filed a motion to appoint a trustee in the company's bankruptcy case, noting that concerns that executives would not be forthcoming about Solyndra's operations.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/12/BU1A1LGVP3.DTL&amp;type=business">The San Francisco Chronicle reports</a> that the company is now looking to replace Harrison with Todd Neilson, the former bankruptcy trustee for Mike <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/tyson" class="hidden_link">Tyson</a> and Suge Knight.</p>
<h3>DON'T MISS: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/government-totally-ignored-the-inevitable-solyndra-disaster-2011-9">8 Red Flags The Government Totally Ignored In the Solyndra Disaster</a></h3><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/solargate-solyndra-ceo-resigns-amid-fraud-investigation-2011-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-jobs-council-calls-for-new-bank-to-provide-solyndra-like-government-loans-2011-10Jeff Immelt's Plan To Save The Economy: More Solyndras Pleasehttp://www.businessinsider.com/obama-jobs-council-calls-for-new-bank-to-provide-solyndra-like-government-loans-2011-10
Tue, 11 Oct 2011 07:48:00 -0400Zeke Miller
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4d4052784bd7c88406040000-400-/immelt.jpg" border="0" alt="Immelt" width="400" /></p><p>President Barack Obama's jobs council, headed by <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/ge">GE</a> CEO <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/jeff-immelt">Jeff Immelt</a>, is calling on the federal government to offer more loans like the one given to the failed solar company <a class="hidden_link" href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/solyndra">Solyndra</a>, in order to promote job creation.</p>
<p><a href="http://files.jobs-council.com/jobscouncil/files/2011/10/JobsCouncil_InterimReport_Oct11.pdf">The 49-page report</a>&nbsp;lays out recommendations for Obama and Congress to act in order to create lasting jobs, including the creation of a new government "financing institution" funding by up to $8 billion from the Treasury to&nbsp;"boost and maintain annual energy investments" to $30 billion or $40 billion annually.</p>
<p>The Jobs Council branded the&nbsp;Department of Energy's loan guarantee program, which provided Solyndra with over $500 million in loans before the company went bankrupt, a success.</p>
<p><span>"The loan program has also shown how less than $2.5 billion in federal funds could catalyze over $25 billion of capital investment in about 30 energy and manufacturing projects, helping create thousands of jobs," the council-members write.</span></p>
<p><span>They propose establishing the "</span>Clean Energy Deployment Administration" as proposed by Senate Democrats, saying that if properly funded, it could create more than 100,000 jobs.</p>
<p><span>Solyndra is the only loan of nearly $20 billion that soured, but it was the program's marquee name &mdash; and Congressional Republicans and the Department of Justice are investigating whether the loan was fast-tracked due to pressure from the White House.</span></p>
<p><span>The jobs council report includes this chart to explain how the government can leverage public and private funding to promote growth in the clean-energy sector &mdash; in an identical fashion to Solyndra.</span></p>
<p><span><a href="http://files.jobs-council.com/jobscouncil/files/2011/10/JobsCouncil_InterimReport_Oct11.pdf">Download the full report here &gt;</a></span></p>
<p><span><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4e942b296bb3f79d13000000/obama-jobs-council-solyndra.png" border="0" alt="Obama Jobs Council Solyndra" /></span></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-jobs-council-calls-for-new-bank-to-provide-solyndra-like-government-loans-2011-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> http://www.businessinsider.com/solyndra-email-dump-implicates-obama-rahm-emanuel-treasury-illegal-bankruptcy-fundraiser-2011-10SOLYNDRAGATE: Huge Email Dump Implicates Obama And Rahm In Bankruptcy Scandalhttp://www.businessinsider.com/solyndra-email-dump-implicates-obama-rahm-emanuel-treasury-illegal-bankruptcy-fundraiser-2011-10
Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:49:00 -0400Grace Wyler
<p><img style="float:right;" src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/4e68e47becad04ba2800004d-400-300/solyndra.jpg" border="0" alt="solyndra" width="400" height="300" /></p><p>The White House released a bunch of emails related to the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/solyndra" class="hidden_link">Solyndra</a> bankruptcy scandal to Congressional investigators today, in what has become a regular Friday evening email dump.</p>
<p>The emails, obtained by several news organizations, implicate the most senior levels of the Obama administration in the scandal, which has tainted the White House since the solar company went bankrupt last month, leaving taxpayers on the hook for a $534 million federal loan.</p>
<p>Here are the highlights:</p>
<p>One email, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/solyndra-obama-and-rahm-emanuel-pushed-to-spotlight-energy-company/2011/10/07/gIQACDqSTL_story.html">obtained by the Washington Post</a>, suggests that <strong>Obama and/or his chief of staff <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/rahm-emanuel" class="hidden_link">Rahm Emanuel</a></strong> was actively involved in trying to get Solyndra's loan application approved in time for a September 2009 press conference.&nbsp;<strong></strong></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>&ldquo;Ron said this morning that the POTUS definitely wants to do this (or Rahm definitely wants the POTUS to do this?),&rdquo; one White House staffer told an Obama scheduler on Aug. 17, 2009, referring to Ron Klain, former chief of staff for Vice President <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/joseph-biden" class="hidden_link">Joe Biden</a>.</em><strong><br /></strong></p>
<p><strong>Steve Spinner,</strong> an Obama fundraiser who worked in the DOE loan department, repeatedly pushed the chief loan officer to expedite approval of Solyndra's loan &mdash; despite the fact that his wife worked for the law firm representing Solyndra. The firm received at least $2.4 million in fees related to the loan, <a href="http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=AP&amp;date=20111007&amp;id=14363157">according to the AP.</a>&nbsp; DOE officials have previously stated that Spinner did not "actively participate" in Solyndra's application.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>&ldquo;How [expletive] hard is this? What is he waiting for? Will we have it by the end of the day?&rdquo; Spinner wrote on Aug. 28, 2009. &ldquo;I have OVP [Office of Vice President] and WH [White House] breathing down my neck on this. They are getting itchy to get involved if needed. I don&rsquo;t want that.&rdquo;</em></p>
<p>In 2011, the Treasury Department warned the DOE about the questionable legality of Solyndra's refinancing deal, which put investors ahead of taxpayers in the event the company went under.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>"In February, we requested in writing that DOE seek the Department of Justice&rsquo;s approval of any proposed restructuring,&rdquo; an assistant Treasury secretary wrote in an August 2011 memo to the OMB. &ldquo;To our knowledge that never happened.&rdquo;</em></p>
<p>Another email, <a href="http://swampland.time.com/2011/10/07/more-solyndra-emails-detail-role-of-second-obama-fundraiser/?iid=sl-article-latest">obtained by TIME</a>, suggests that Solyndra's bad finances and poor business model were well-known within the solar panel industry. A February 2009 letter from the CEO of Solyndra's main competitor, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/blackboard/nanosolar" class="hidden_link">Nanosolar</a>, basically asks what everyone in the country is asking now:&nbsp;</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>&ldquo;In light of the DoE loan program application of a competitor of ours, Solyndra, and given the well-publicized rapidly deteriorating financial state of this company as well as its failure to secure new investors and maintain a balance sheet adequate for product introduction, I would appreciate clarification from you about whether the DoE loan guarantee program is suitable as a &lsquo;bail-out&rsquo; program for failing private manufacturers."</em></p>
<h3><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/government-totally-ignored-the-inevitable-solyndra-disaster-2011-9#solyndras-business-model-was-totally-flawed-1">Here are eight red flags the government totally ignored in the Solyndra disaster &gt; </a></h3><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/solyndra-email-dump-implicates-obama-rahm-emanuel-treasury-illegal-bankruptcy-fundraiser-2011-10#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p>